Another despicable congressman

Immediately below Paul Mirengoff describes one despicable Democratic congressman (Alan Grayson) waging a despicable campaign in search of a winning message, or at least a suitable bogeman. Southern California Rep. Loretta Sanchez is another despicable congressman waging a despicable campaign. Sanchez faces a strong challenge from Republican Van Tran. In the case of Sanchez, the bogeyman is her opponent. He’s a native of Vietnam, you see, having left Saigon with his family shortly before South Vietnam fell to the communists in 1975.
Sanchez must be nervous about the election. Speaking to her Hispanic constituents on UniVision in Spanish, Sanchez sought to alarm them that the “Vietnamese and the Republicans” in her district were “trying to take away” her House seat after “we have done so much for our community.” It’s a nakedly racist appeal that reveals Sanchez to be unfit to hold high office. She obviously thought she could get away with it in Spanish on UniVision.
John Hinderaker previously posted the video below, but here it is again as a reminder. John noted in an update to his post that the story had begun to trickle out. The Orange County Register covered it, and AP took notice. In any event, prepare to be disgusted as you listen to this smarmy mediocrity seek to bring out the worst in her constituents.

In an excellent Politics Daily column, Lusita Lopez Torregrosa reports that Sanchez apologized for her comments this past Friday afternoon. In scandal management, of course, Friday afternoon is where news is dumped to die.
Sanchez’s apology now takes its place In the annals of mealymouthed expressions of regret: “I used a poor choice of words that some people have taken as offensive,” Sanchez said at a news conference Friday afternoon. “I apologize for those remarks.” Torregrosa notes the limits of Sanchez’s regret: Sanchez didn’t apologize for calling Tran “very anti-immigrant and very anti-Hispanic.”
You can follow the link above to contribute to Van Tran’s campaign.